Truth or Dare?
by Bastet of Abydos
Summary: Karen Johnston and Brian Peters never quite felt like they belonged in Truth, Illinois. They're about to find out that they were right. (Chapter progress: 1/??)


Karen Johnson tied back her auburn hair and checked her appearance in the mirror. Her blue eyes shone back at her in the reflection. She put her hairbrush down on her dresser. Sunlight poured in from the open window and illuminated the bedroom of her small apartment. She straightened her white pull-over and smoothed the wrinkles from her black slacks. Not that it really mattered. Her clothes would be covered up by an ugly lab-coat the moment she started work at the hospital.   
Being a doctor, Karen never really had to worry about dressing up nice for work before. But today, the state superviser was coming for a "surprize" inspection. Someone let it slip a couple of days ago, and when you're couped up in a hospital, word gets around fast. karen chuckled to herself and grabbed her breifcase.  
Just the thought of that inevitable one person who's been on vacation this week, and coming into work to find the supervisor, brought a smile across her face. Especially since she knew who that one person is: Brad Baker. He had given her a hard time since she first started working there in 1990.   
Karen locked her apartment door after her. She walked down the hall and out the front door of the complex. She couldn't help smirking as she called for a cab. A yellow-Chicago-cab pulled up in to the curb in front of her. She opened the door and climbed into the cab, onto the hard, springy seat in back.  
"Hey, lady! Where to?" The driver asked in a thick southern-New York accent.  
Karen sighed "The Kathy Gimmey Memorial hospital," she said "Please." Karen added due to course of habit.  
The man stepped on the gas and pulled out so fast, that Karen got pulled back by force into the back of the seat. She relunctuntly hooked her seatbelt and scowled at the driver.  
The driver didn't notice her sliding around in the back seat, though, he was too busy bobbing his head in time with the music he had cranked up.   
Karen rolled her eyes. Maybe this day wouldn't be so nice afterall.  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
Brian Peters straightened his tie and ran his fingers through his brown hair as he checked his appearance in the window of an appliance store. He had been running late since his alarm clock woke him up at 15 til 9 'o clock, which is when he's due at work. Brian started to walk away, when his briefcase blew open, sending papers scattering all over the road.  
"Oh..." Brian ran out into the street and collected his papers, stopping traffic much to the annoyance of the comuters. They showed it by making obscene gestures and honking continously.   
Brian held out his hand in the gesture "stop" and yelled "I'm sorry!" at all the cars. He got the rest of the papers and ran out of the street. Brian nodded curt nods of acknowledgements at the drivers as they passed, swearing at him to no end. Brian looked down at his shoes and ducked around a corner. He sighed and reflexively looked at his watch, at first not paying attention.  
"9:01!" Brian exclaimed in a hushed whisper. "I'm late!" He said, with his voice escalating to a near yell. Brian ran down the street dodging hotdog carts that lined the streets, and avoiding people in business suits going out for coffee, swerving out of the way of tourists with their arms full of shopping bags and packages.   
He swiftly made his way down 53rd street. Brian jogged on the weekends around the park and swam every Sunday. He had to stretch every now and then after being couped up in a cubicle for five days a week, 9 AM to 9 PM.   
Brian lived on the same street as Montegomery Building, where he worked, but about a mile down, next to the Kathy Gimmey Memorial hospital.  
After bumping into a street side accordian player and a woman with a baby carriage, Brian decided to cross over to the other side of the street, wheere less people were walking.  
Brian looked both ways and ran into the 2 lane street.  
VVVVRRRROOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!! The engine of an overheated car sped towtord him. Before he could move out of the way, at almost the same instant he saw the yellow cab, it struck him, head on. Brian rolled onto the hood and off onto the road.  
  
Chapter 2   
  
Karen sat in the back of the taxi as it weaved in and out of the two lanes on 53rd. There were oddly few cars on the road at that time. Karen wasn't even in a hurry anyway.  
She still had til 9:30 to get to the hospital, which was only about a mile down the road from her apartment. The only reason she had called a cab was to stay out of the rain she thought would fall.  
Karen didn't have a car, and didn't need one either. Everything she needed was within walking distance from her apartment. Karen held on to her seatbelt wondering if it were possible for the seatbelt to break due to driving like this when.....  
SMACK!!! Something hit the hood of the car and rolled onto the road.  
Karen's eyes popped and mouth dropped open. She immediatly put her hand to her mouth to mask a gasp. The car jolted to a stop.  
Karen flew forward then back, even though buckled in tightly. She unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the car door. She stepped out and peered over the car. It was now apparent what the driver had hit. It layed in the street in a semi-fetal position, slowly rocking.  
They had hit a man.  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *   
Brian layed in the street rocking. He wheezed for air but couldn't breethe. Then, finally, he gulped in a breath of fresh air. He had the wind knocked out of him. Nothing seemed to be broken.  
Brian looked up at the car that had struck him. It was a yellow cab. the driver had a large, un-shoven face and a blue cab over his presumably bald head. He sat stupidly in the front seat with his hands gripping the steering wheel. Brian could see over the hood of the car. He saw a woman peering down at him, her long black coat ruffled by a sudden gust of wind. Strands of her auburn hair blew around her face, though most of it was pulled back in a ponytail.  
"Are you all right?" The woman asked him.  
Brian winced as he got to his feet. "Yeah." he wheezed. His bones ached as he got up. "I'm fine," He said as if he didn't mean it. "It was just the ton of metal in the chest I needed to get me going." He said dryly, cracking a smile.  
He brushed himself off and ran to the sidewalk. Only then did Brian notice a trickle of blood dripping onto his suit from his forehead. He wiped his face with the back of his hand and continued down the street to work.  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *   
Karen watched the man run off then got back into the taxi.   
The taxi driver was talking urgently to someone over the intercom-radio, but immediatly hushed his voice when Karen got into the taxi. He quickly ended the conversation and started th drive as if nothing had happened.  
Karen rubbed the bridge of her nose as the car sped off.   
This was going to be a long day.  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Brian entered the revolving doors of the Montegomery building short of breath, and dirty from lying on the road. He stopped at the mirror by the elevator and fixed his hair and brushed a cloud of dirt off his black suit. He took off his jacket as he waited. The jacket was brown with dirt, but his light blue shirt underneath was still clean.  
Ding! The elevator doors opened and Brian got inside next to a couple kissing and several business men in suits looking blankly at the numbers at the top of the elevator. Brian joined the crowd of men staring at the numbers until the elevator reached floor 10 of the 40 floors possible. It seemed like everyone watched him walk off. Even the couple seemed to stop a second and watch Brian leave the elevator.   
Brian ducked beneath the receptionist's desk and past the bosses office. He was almost to the rows of small cubicles when he heard the bosses voice behind him.  
"Ah, Peters! How nice of you to join us for work tod.."   
Brian turned around and his boss, Mr. Gibson saw the blody gash on his forehead.  
"Good god, man! What happened? Were you mugged?" Gibson asked placing a hand on Brian's shoulder.  
Brian raised his eyebrows "Uh, no, I was uh... hit by a car." he said slowly, rubbing his forehead for effect.  
Gibson sized him up. "Where's your breifcase?" he asked crossing his arms.  
Brian mentally slpped his forehead "Breifcase?" he blinked.  
Gibson raised his eyebrows and tapped his foot, rocking back and forth  
Brian gritted his teeth. He had left it by the side of the road when he was hit by the car.  
"Don't tell me you lost the bloody thing?" Gibson said in his thick, English accent.  
"No, I'll go get it, right now." Brian said starting for the elevator.  
Gibson swatted Brian on the head with his newspaper. "Go get it! You better not lose the Thompson Report! Go! Go!"  
Brian jogged off. What a lovely day this was going to be.  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
Karen payed the driver and walked up the steps of the Kathy Gimmey Memorial Hospital. She pulled her long, black coat around her as a gust of wind sprang up. The trees swayed with wind. Though it was spring, most still had little or no leaves.   
Karen pulled open the glass door of the main entrance and stepped in. The warmth of th heating system enveloped her wind-whipped face. She greeted the receptionist and went straight to the "locker room" as it reminded her of. The correct term was lounge, but it seemed more like a locker room to Karen.  
She put away her breifcase, purse and coat and re-did her hair. It was 9:20, she wasn't on duty for another 10 minutes. Karen decided to get a game in at the video games section of the hospital, when the door to the lounge opened.   
In walked a tall woman (at least compaired to Karen's height of 5'2), probably in her thirties, with shoulder length blonde hair. It was Karen's best friend Tracy Davis. she wore a friendly smile on her face.  
Karen returned the smile. "Hi, Tracy!" Karen greeted walking to her.  
"Hi, Karen." She said warmly. Then she contracted the corners of her mouth down into a frown. "The supervisor's here."  
"Really?" Karen asked "Who is it this time?"   
"You won't believe this... Matt DeNero!" Tracy said.   
Karen raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? The same Matt Danero that swore he'd get ecen with me for failing him when I taught at Med. School?"  
"The one and only." Tracy said placing her hands on her hips.  
"Has he said anything to you?" Karen asked.  
"Other than 'Your Karen's friend' and 'Your clothes are very unimanginative' and 'Your hair is messy'?" She said sarcastically "Then no, he hasn't."  
"So he's out to get you, too, huh?" Karen sighed. "Well, maybe if I show up early for work he'll give me a break," Karen put on her white lab coat that only senior staff could wear and positioned her thin wire glasses on her nose. She didn't need them all the time, she was just required to wear them on the job.  
Karen took a deep breath and marched out of the lounge. She picked up her clipboard after punching in and called up the first patient. Today, Karen was covering Bart's shift today until noon, when she covered Lisa's shift in the ER until she got off work at 9:00. It was a grueling 12 hour shift but they needed her here at the hospitol.  
The patient was staring at the ceiling. Karen walked up to the man.  
"Sir, are you..." Karen looked down at her clipboard "David Kesselman?"The man didn't shift his gaze, but he nodded."Come on then, it's your turn." She said bending over.  
The man leaned foreward until he was close to Karen's ear. "They're watching," He whispered.  
The smile faded from Karen's face. She followed the gaze of the man's. A very small red dot was on the ceiling, glowing down on them. Karen smiled again at the man. "It's all right, come on,"  
The man reluctently got to his feet and followed Karen down th halls of examination rooms to 1C. Karen motioned for him to come and get on the examination table. The man just walked to the counter lined with instruments and such. He suddenly started knocking things down and breaking instruments. Karen ran to the "Call Nurse" button and pushed it several times.  
"Sir, I..." Karen started trying to calm the frantic man down.  
The man turned to her, his eyes were wild and full of fire. He grinned maliciously and shut the heavy wood door with his foot.  
Karen saw he had a scalpel in one hand. She gasped and backed up as the man advanced. She bumped into the wall and pressed herself against it.   
Suddenly, a flash of a memory invaded her brain taking over her senses. She saw herself, groping for scissors, and then attacking her assailent only to have the scissors knocked from her hands and then a man with a gun broke in and got the man off her. The vision was fuzzy and intense, black around the edges.  
She snapped back to reality and found herself being knocked to the ground. The man raised the scalpel over her head. "All this will end when I kill the two of you!" He cried.  
Karen heard the door knob turning but it was locked. "Karen! Are you okay? Open the door!" The voice called from outside.  
Karen shreiked as the scalpel began to fall. She rolled out of the way as the scalpel fell. Something snapped inside Karen. Something instinctive. Something forgotten.   
She kicked the man and he hit the examination table with a loud BANG! Getting up, she kicked him once, twice, three times! Then, when he moved to cut her, she used her hands to ward off the blows. He cut her on her hand and she hissed in pain and cradled it. The man took the opportunity to push her against the counter and hold her hands to where they were useless. Karen thought she was done for when her knee rose up and hit him hard in the abdomen, causing him to hold his stomach and drop the scalpel. Karen looked at her bleeding hand and, enraged, kicked him once more till he was on the floor. The man fell limp and the scalple fell from his hand.  
Karen stood looking shocked at what she had done. She had never taken any self defense or karate classes. She heard the banging on the door again and opened the door. Traci burst in and grabbed Karen by the shoulders.   
"Are you okay?" she asked in an astonished tone of voice.   
Karen could only nod her head and stare dumbly at her.  
Then Dylan filled the doorway behind Traci. He looked in at the man that lay on the floor and then at Karen and back at the man. 


End file.
